Well, if you’re me, I suggest taking a look into your well-stocked pantry and refrigerator. Recently, my sweet tooth reared its ugly head during a rather lazy evening inside. Baking was out of the question, and hell, leaving the house to wasn’t happening. But it happened to fall after the last swap, and I discovered I had the ingredients for a rather delicious dessert.

Boozy Caramel Apple Sundae

This is obviously more of a rough guideline than a legitimate recipe. Delicious, nonetheless!

The ice cream component was removed from the freezer to soften. I happened to have a small container [about 1/3 pint possibly] of vanilla gelato from the Greene Harvest CSA. At the same time, I took out the two jars discovered from the swap. Jane Lerner’s salted caramel sauce was an obvious choice, and the second part was apple pie rum. I put a few gobs of the rather thick caramel into a tiny pot on the stove. A minute or two on low and the caramel turned saucy. So I scooped out some gelato, poured the warm caramel on top, and then spooned a few tablespoons of apple pie rum on top.

The rum is pretty strong, so you got an intense bite with a spicy, apple flavor. The caramel sauce was very salty, in the best way possible, and it melted the gelato a bit. The puddle of delight, creamy, caramelized, spiced, could be amped up with toasted pecans or walnuts to take it over the edge.

But for five minutes and what felt like ‘free’ ingredients, what a stunner. If a boozy caramel apple sundae is not a case for a well-stocked pantry, I don’t know what is.